Bad Taste no. 53: criminal lunatics

The scan: sc-n113-sep-13-1979.pdf (PDF, Marxists Internet Archive, opens at this page)

This text was corrected by hand against the scan: the strip at the foot of page 3, which the machine reading did not see; image taken from the scan and its lettering transcribed (18 Oct 2026). Number 53 of Cormac's weekly Bad Taste strip: criminal lunatics.

page 3 of the scan

Five-panel cartoon strip: facing another series of loyalist sectarian assassinations, a man wonders whether the gutter press will howl "murdering evil bastards" — as likely as headlines calling MPs who back the backstreet abortionists "criminal lunatics". — Cormac, "Bad Taste" no. 53, Socialist Challenge no. 113, 13 September 1979, page 3. From the Marxists Internet Archive scan.

The strip, panel by panel

1. BAD TASTE by Cormac #53.

2. Thinks: "So — we are to be subjected to another series of sectarian assassinations by the loyalist murder gangs."

3. "Will they be greeted with howls of 'murdering, evil bastards' in the headlines of Britain's gutter press?"

4. "A silly question, I suppose ..." "One might just as well ask how many women must die at the hands of backstreet abortionists ...."

5. "... before the headlines describe certain members of Parliament as — 'criminal lunatics'!!"